The present invention relates to an electronic gaming machine comprising a gaming device for a multi-player game, with a touchscreen for controlling the game and a receiver for wirelessly communicating with the identification units of the players, and also an identification unit for interacting with such a gaming device.
The use of wireless identification units, so-called player tracking dongles, e.g. with integrated RFID transponder chips, for player identification and tracking in casinos has been known for a long time, see patents U.S. 2007/0060310 A1 or U.S. 2007/0293311 A1, for example. Recently it has been proposed to also use such RFID transponder chips for the identification and assignment of individual players to a touchscreen of an electronic multi-player live table game jointly operated by them. Thus, patent EP 2 000 997 A1 describes the identification and localisation of the players on a touchscreen gaming table by radio localisation of the RFID transponder chips carried by them, whereupon each localised player is allocated his/her own area of the touchscreen, so that the touches of the players can be distinguished between on the touchscreen. This solution is only suitable for specific types of live table games, in which the players use their own areas on the gaming table, such as poker, blackjack or the like. This system is not suitable for freer live table games, in which an area of the touchscreen is used jointly by multiple players, e.g. the betting area of a virtual roulette table. Another solution is described in WO 2007/139484 A1, in which each player grasps a dedicated weak current electrode in one hand, so that the other hand carries a weak coding signal and its touch on the touchscreen can be assigned to the grasped electrode. This system requires a one-handed method of play for the players with correspondingly low user acceptance.